Customer Reviews

I Can Do It! Piano Book: First Book of Favorite Songs [With CD]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a good book for a child that wants to be able to play a few songs on a piano and say "I can do it!"
Parents take heed though, no child will learn to read music with this book. It doesn't even have music in it. It is simply colored hands with letters on them, so the child memorizes what color is what finger and possibly what letter it is on the keyboard. While the child does make music this way, and through a process of association learns the letters, they won't be able to pick up sheet music of any level and play it on their piano.
Like I said, it's a good book for someone that is satisfied with their child being able to play a few simple songs so they can say "I can do it!" but if you want your child to progress into being able to play more than the "I Can Do It" series music, it would be wise to skip the finger color matching and just get a piano book that teaches basic music reading.

My recommendations:
John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course Part One
Teaching Little Fingers to Play: A Book for the Earliest Beginner (John Thompsons Modern Course for The Piano)

I purchased a bunch of beginner books for my 4-year old, who had no piano experience at all. After I got the books, I reviewed them first, and found this one is the perfect one for young child, because it uses the letters and finger chart instead of the intimiditing music notes to illustrate the popular children's songs. So, I presented only this one to my daughter. Amazingly, she was able to follow the book all by herself, which made her very pround of herself!!! She loves to play piano now, and loves to give piano lessons to us too!!!

Highly recommend this book for parents who want to introduce their young child to the world of piano.

I hadn't touched a keyboard in 20+ years prior to picking up this book. But it is so simple & easy that I was quickly able to play the simple, child friendly tunes: Ring Around the Rosie, Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb etc...contained within. Not only is the teaching system very, very "friendly" & easy, the book is also a pleasure to read & look through, thanks to the lovely illustrations. I highly recommend this book, for beginner adults & for children!

I am a piano teacher and my 7 year old son and I love this book! He can easily understand what to do and can play each song by himself with little or no help from me. He enjoys playing these songs because they are easily recognizable and short enough to feel successful. I can't wait for the next book!

I have been using this book with all of my beginners, and it has made SUCH a huge difference in the way they play! They are instantly able to play the piano on their own, and they don't get frustrated or confused. When we're done with the book, moving into notation is so much easier. They already know the not names and where they are on the keyboard, so they just need to remember what they look like! My other students who did not use this book first have a much harder time remembering their notes, and what they look like. I recommend this book to anyone who is teaching beginners, or who wants to learn to play themselves.

I bought this book along with a piano for my daughter's 8th birthday. She has never taken piano lessons, it has been less than 3 months and she already knows how to play all the songs in the book. She loves this book. I wish there was a book 2 like this one.

This is a great learning tool. I am an senior adult and have always wanted to learn to play the piano. This book has been the best and the easiest for me to learn. It is marked well, and explained well. I am glad I spent the money even tho we are on a fixed income this is the best way to buy.

This is a great book for self-teaching. It uses letters instead of notes and has simple recognizable melodies. My daughter sits down at the piano and teaches herself the songs.

My 8 year old has had some lessons and can read easy music, but this book is so fun she uses it a lot without being nagged to practice. It does not have any notes written on a staff at all, however. It is different than anything we have.

Contrary to the negative review, I must applaud this book! It is exactly what is described on the cover. This book got my children excited about the piano again, was an immediate confidence booster and I often find them at the piano for 20-30 minutes flipping through the book cover to cover. The best thing is, it has opened their desire to follow a book precisely. Often times, children want to do things their own way ignoring the complex instructions given by adults. This book eliminates those complex instructions and gives immediate positive rewards and experiences! This book will not teach your child to read notated music or to keep time, but it will teach note location and proper hand locations. We use it with a metronome and the kids love to figure out the correct way to play it with time and as such, my children are starting to "feel" the proper time for the notes. Also, one of my children thinks it's hilarious to play the slow parts fast, and the fast parts slow. All in all, this book is great if lessons have gone sour for your child in the past, or if you just want to get them interested in plunking around. Being able to do simple, awesome things will lead to a desire to do more complex awesome things.